Sheboygan police to check vehicles as courtesy

The Sheboygan Police Department wants to protect more vehicle owners from theft, and its explorers are helping.

The Sheboygan Police Explorers, young people ages 14 to 21 who want to learn more about law enforcement careers, will be checking parked vehicles and giving owners an update on how they’re doing preventing thefts.

According to a release from the Sheboygan Police Department, the Vehicle Courtesy Checks will be looking for obvious risk factors such as unlocked doors, open windows or valuables in plain sight.

“Thefts from vehicles are one of the most prevalent types of theft, and the vast majority of those thefts involve items left in plain view inside of unlocked vehicles,” Sgt. Kurt Zempel said in the press release. “Our hope is that through the vehicle courtesy check program, we can reach out to community members and prevent them from becoming victims of theft.”

Explorers will check vehicles that are parked on the street or in public parking lots, and will base their report cards on what can be seen through the vehicle windows – pulling on door handles will not be necessary.

Inspections will take place in the evenings throughout the summer.

Explorers will leave a courtesy check card on all inspected vehicles, thanking the owners for their help in preventing crime and reminding the owners of failing vehicles that they can have an impact on their likelihood of victimization.

Additionally, the neighborhood officer assigned to the area where inspections are conducted will follow up with owners of failing vehicles to offer crime prevention tips.

“Ideally, the neighborhood officer will be able to get a hold of the owner right away to correct the risk factors on the spot and significantly reduce the chance of them being victimized by theft,” Zempel said. “We want members of the community to understand that they can play a huge part in helping reduce not only their own chances of being victimized, but also the occurrence of property crimes for the entire city,”

Last year, there were more than 150 thefts or attempted thefts from vehicles in Sheboygan, Zempel said.

The inspections are slated to start in late July and continue through the summer.